HTTRDynasty

NBC Sports Washington NFL analyst Charley Casserly was asked on The Sports Junkies to compare Young to some of the recent top draft picks at his position. Casserly made a point as to why Young is a better prospect coming out of college than all of them. The first player Young was compared to was Seattle Seahawks defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft out of South Carolina. "[Young is] better than Clowney," Casserly said. "Clowney had a spotted career where he was injured and wasn't consistent when he did play. [Young] is more consistent and he's played more games. All these guys played at a high level." ... There have been a handful of edge rushers that have been considered to be elite NFL Draft prospects over the past two decades. Besides Clowney, names like Mario Williams, Julius Peppers and most recently in 2017, Myles Garrett come to mind. Casserly explained where Young has the advantage over all three of those prospects. "He's more consistent than Myles Garrett coming out," Casserly said. "He's a better athlete than Mario Williams, meaning he'll make more plays as an athlete. Going back to Julius Peppers who was taken second, he's a more instinctive player than Peppers was at that point." ... Casserly made the point that he's comparing Young to all these players when they were prospects, not their full body of work in the NFL. But by saying Young is better entering the league than all four of those players, all multiple-time Pro Bowlers, is a great sign for Young's future. "I'm only comparing college careers. That's how you scout," he said. "You take a guy and start comparing him to people, and at the end, you go 'Oh, wow.' That's the way I look at the guy." As for what the Redskins should do with the No.2 overall pick? Casserly thinks that the decision is easy. "If I'm the Redskins I take Chase Young," he said. "I don't move back. He's that good of a football player."

Nah, it was 4.94. Which basically means nothing. Myles Garret ran 5.08 in HS.

Hope Sweat gets more of these opportunities for a free rush next year with Young on the other side and a blitz up the middle.

Young is the top non-QB and that isn't changing any time soon. He shattered the PFF single-season pass-rushing record despite opposing teams game-planning for him. OVERVIEW Chase Young was tagged as a consensus five-star recruit and one of the country’s top-10 players regardless of position, per Ohio State’s official athletic site, coming out Maryland’s DeMatha Catholic High School in 2017. The University of Maryland pushed to have Young stay in his home state and take his talents to College Park, but Urban Meyer & Co. ultimately swayed him away from the Terps and the 39 other schools that offered Young. “It’s just a lovely place and I want to go into criminal justice and they have a program,” Young said in October 2016, per USA Today High School Sports. “Coach (Urban) Meyer is a coach who wants to win. The defensive line coach, coach (Larry) Johnson is best in the nation. When I go up there, it’s like a brotherhood. I didn’t get any funny vibes from any of the players.” We’re running out of adjectives to describe Young’s pass-rushing production in 2019 and over the course of his career. His 96.5 PFF pass-rushing grade in 2019 is the best single-season mark ever recorded by an edge defender in the PFF College era (2014-19). He earned a 91.2 PFF pass-rushing grade and recorded 75 (!!) total pressures as a true sophomore at Ohio State. He is a different breed of athlete and will be highly coveted for his measurables, but his on-field production might be even better. Hands, burst, power, length, size, flexibility -> all elite traits Young possesses. Every single game it showed up this past season. The only game he didn’t grade out exceptional well was against Northwestern and that is because they literally rolled their quarterback away from him on the majority of plays after he registered a sack on the very first pass of the game. I could go on and on and on, but there’s little doubt in my mind that Young will be a perennial pro-bowler in the NFL. POSITIVES Ideal build from a height/weight/length perspective Understands that one arm is longer than two. Utilizes long arm vs both run and pass Exceptional balance through contact. Even when he doesn’t win clean, can still get to QB Sneaky strong hands. Forklifts OTs when he gets in their shoulder pads. There isn’t a way he can’t win as a pass-rusher. Speed, power, quickness, hands Dominance the likes of which we’ve never seen as a pass-rusher NEGATIVES Doesn’t play as stout when tight to formation (5/6 tech) as size would suggest Hands can get wide against the run and expose his chest Favorable pass-rushing scheme that affords freedom to work any moves ROUND PROJECTION Top-Five Pick NFL PLAYER COMPARISON Aldon Smith BOTTOM LINE Young is the best edge prospect we’ve ever scouted. https://www.pff.com/draft/big-board

I'm sure there was a Redskins focus there, but I doubt it was to troll. Maybe it was. I personally don't really care much either way.

That's just based off a median combine performance for his build.

In terms of value, edge players are often considered the quarterbacks of a defense. While this is a bit heavy-handed, as coverage is at least as important as pass-rush, the way that teams have drafted near the top of the first round suggests that this is a widely held belief. Myles Garrett was the No. 1 overall pick in 2017. Jadeveon Clowney preceded him in 2014. Nick Bosa (second), Joey Bosa (third) and Dante Fowler Jr. (third) are recent top-three picks at the position. The player-level success mapping to team-level success aside, there is an appetite for edge players early in the draft, and these players often do a good job with what they are tasked to do. At PFF, we really shine in the projection of pass-rushers from the college level to the NFL level, as pass-rushing grades, pressures and sacks are some of the more predictable variables. Interestingly, though, these NFL-level variables are also very tied to how a player performs as an athlete (at the combine or their pro day, adjusted for size), a finding that our friend Justis Mosqueda published a few years back. Instead of using different athletic measurements wholesale, we use principal component analysis to combine these measurements into one metric that is specific to each facet of play (e.g., pass-rushing and run defense). So, with only partial information in our hands, it's time to talk about the potential second overall selection — Ohio State's Chase Young. My colleague Timo Riske wrote an article about what Washington should do with the pick, which is outside the scope of this piece. Instead, I look at how Young stacks up relative to other NFL players and other players in his class by using our college-to-pro simulation. As I talked about last week when analyzing Isaiah Simmons and Anthony Gordon, I've created a college-to-pro simulation that takes our play-by-play data, contextualizes it for things like strength of opponent, role, situation, and combine measurables, and simulates any given player's first five seasons in the NFL. Without combine data (or, since Young is not working out this week, pro-day data), we can simply provide an estimate for how a player will perform in this context or use how his size has historically translated to combine performance using an imputation method. Without further ado, let's take a look at how Young projects from Ohio State to the NFL. HOW YOUNG PROJECTS AS A PASS-RUSHER When looking at Young, it only makes sense to look at his pass-rushing prowess first, as run defense doesn't matter as much at the NFL level. As a pass-rusher, with basically a median guess for his combine performance and no adjustments for scheme or usage, Young projects as an above-average pass-rusher in the NFL with good-but-not-great comparisons in Trent Murphy and Preston Smith. This projection, though, is still near the top of the edge class this year, trailing only Oluwole Betiku Jr. (11.87%) of Illinois. Context-free projection of Chase Young's pressure rate during his first five years, assuming an average combine performance based on his height and weight. The green line is the median performance for players entering the NFL after 2015. However, it's very clear that Young is not the typical edge athlete for his size, which is a statement that's evidenced by the market expectation that his 40-yard dash time betters 4.65. As said above, how a player plays at the college level is only part of the equation, so if we estimate that Young tests out as an 80th-percentile athlete at his pro day, he projects well above the median pass-rusher in the NFL during his first five years, with impressive comps like Demarcus Lawrence, Yannick Ngakoue, Dee Ford, Takkarist McKinley and Greg Hardy. Young's 66th percentile projections in this setting include some very productive edge players in Danielle Hunter, Frank Clark and Robert Quinn, and his 75th percentile of outcomes include some pretty heavy-hitters like J.J. Watt, Myles Garrett, Joey Bosa, T.J. Watt and Jerry Hughes. The comps for his median projection become similar to that of his 75th-percentile projection if Young tests out like a 95th-percentile edge at the combine or his pro day, which is certainly a possibility given how the market currently views him. Lastly, if Young was to only work as a situational pass-rusher (playing on third down roughly 50% of the time) Young's median projected pressure rate jumps to 11.73% under the former combine assumptions, showing a relatively high floor for a player like this, given one can change his circumstances to elicit more production. Context-free projection of Chase Young's pressure rate during his first five years, assuming an 80th-percentile combine (in the case of Young, pro day) performance based on his height and weight. The green line is the median performance for players entering after 2015. HOW YOUNG PROJECTS AS A RUN DEFENDER While not as important as rushing the passer, some edge players limit their ability to help their teams by not being good enough against the run to stay on the field during early downs. Early down pass-rushing is more difficult than third-down pass-rushing, so there's a big missed opportunity for a team if their elite pass-rushers cannot play on those downs. Young does not project like one of these liabilities, and while other players like A.J. Epenesa of Iowa have a higher projected run-stop rate and a higher projected rate of positively graded plays in the run game, Young is still projected to hold his own in terms of setting the edge. Context-free projection of Chase Young's run defense during his first five years, assuming an average combine performance based on his height and weight. The green line is the median performance among players entering the league after 2015. Young's comps in run defense are varied, and they include Chandler Jones, Emmanuel Ogbah, Jabaal Sheard and Takk McKinley. Young's 75th-percentile projection as a run defender includes comps like Danielle Hunter, Frank Clark, Matthew Judon and Robert Quinn. CONCLUSION While taking an edge player over a quarterback with the No. 2 pick is something I struggle with in principle, Chase Young does appear to be one of the better edge prospects in recent memory, and he's the prohibitive favorite to be the first defensive player chosen. If Washington selects him with the second overall pick, though, they might be disappointed in exactly how impactful such a player will be to their team success, given that Ron Rivera's first season with the team hinges on the development of Dwayne Haskins at quarterback and Terry McLaurin at wide receiver and how their secondary comes together with the question marks surrounding Quinton Dunbar and the release of Josh Norman. Edge is an interesting position in that it is pretty predictable from college to pro, seemingly lowering the risk of a bust with such a high pick. However, as Timo Riske documented, early-career success is less prevalent than for other positions, making an immediate impact anything but a sure thing. For a team like Washington, looking to build around a young offense in a relatively weak division, distributing the risk among many picks might be a better process than putting a lot of eggs into one basket, given the limited impact of an edge player to overall team success.

Could you imagine if Young is able to add the spin move into his arsenal? Filthy.

Here it is folks.

Agreed. Also, I notice the 49ers get all the hype (deservedly so), but a similar situation happened in Pittsburgh. They had 3 1st round picks on their DL/EDGE - Cameron Heyward, Bud Depree, Tyson Alualu but they still decided to draft TJ Watt in the first round in 2017, which was the smartest decision they could have made (we're so fortunate the idiotic Cowboys chose Taco Charlton over him). Now they have one of the most fearsome DL's and overall defenses (3rd in 2019 DVOA) in the league and Watt is an All Pro. It's bad luck for them that Big Ben got injured early in the season, but the fact that they were able to finish at .500 with Duck freakin' Hodges as their QB last year shows just how dominant that defense was and the damage they could do as a team with a healthy starting QB. So we have two recent examples of an All-Pro level player at EDGE being the missing piece in putting a promising DL over the top to elite status. There's no doubt in my mind that a similar transformation can/will happen here.

1. Chase Young, Ohio State (6-foot-5, 266 pounds, 4.72 40-yard dash) Upper Marlboro, Md. (DeMatha Catholic), junior. Age: 21.03 (calculated to nearest 100th on draft day) A two-year starter at Ohio State, Young rushed off the left and right edges in the Buckeyes’ four-man front, occasionally kicking inside on passing downs, and was accustomed to seeing extra blockers to his side of the field. A tireless student of the game, he stayed productive with a target on his back and attached himself to the hip of legendary defensive line coach Larry Johnson, who helped cultivate his talent, taking him from good to great and great to elite. Young has impressive athletic twitch, especially for his size/build, keeping his hips, hands and feet in sync to maintain his balance mid-rush. His ease of movement expands his bag of tricks, and he is quick to read blockers, adjusting his attack mid-play instead of predetermining his moves. Overall, Young not only has the physical ingredients (size, speed, strength), but his technical know-how and diagnosis skills as a pass-rusher are advanced for his age, projecting to the NFL as a freakier version of Bradley Chubb and the best overall player in the 2020 NFL Draft. All-22 takeaway: During the draft process, it can be easy to spot who has done their homework and who hasn’t. Like those who say Young “disappeared” down the stretch because he didn’t have a sack in the final three games (at Michigan, vs. Wisconsin, vs. Clemson). That is an immediate indicator of who tracks box scores and who watches the tape. On this play in the Big Ten Championship Game, Young didn’t record a sack, but his get-off and power around the edge forced the incompletion. Sacks are great (and Young led the nation with 16 1/2 sacks in 2019), but affecting the quarterback is a better way to judge pass-rush talent. All-22 takeaway:

I'll be right there with you. If anyone can exorcise the Haynesworth demons out of that number, he can.

Giants media still delusional enough to think they have a shot at Young: